{"product_id":"lotus-blossom-graphite","title":"Lotus Blossom (Original Sketch)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLotus Blossom\u003c\/em\u003e is a two-mana artifact from \u003cem\u003eUrza’s Saga\u003c\/em\u003e (1998), that lets you put a petal counter on it at the beginning of your upkeep. You can tap and sacrifice \u003cem\u003eLotus Blossom\u003c\/em\u003e to add X mana of any one color, where X is the number of petal counters on it. \u003cem\u003eLotus Blossom\u003c\/em\u003e is a classic example of a “delayed payoff”. It doesn’t do anything right away, but if you can wait a few turns, you can generate more mana for just two mana invested early. It was most commonly seen in combo and control archetypes that wanted explosive turns after a bit of setup. After a few turns, you could use \u003cem\u003eLotus Blossom\u003c\/em\u003e to power out game-ending cards like \u003cem\u003eYawgmoth’s Bargain, Stroke of Genius, or Mind Over Matter.\u003c\/em\u003e During Standard (Urza’s Block 1998-1999), \u003cem\u003eLotus Blossom\u003c\/em\u003e saw play in Academy Combo and Tinker-based blue decks, which sought to assemble \u003cem\u003eTolarian Academy\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eTime Spiral\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMind Over Matter\u003c\/em\u003e, and huge mana engines. These archetypes included “Academy Bloom” decks ¬– using \u003cem\u003eTolarian Academy\u003c\/em\u003e and cheap artifacts to produce absurd mana and finish with \u003cem\u003eStroke of Genius\u003c\/em\u003e or \u003cem\u003eBrain Freeze\u003c\/em\u003e (in later variants). \u003cem\u003eLotus Blossom\u003c\/em\u003e was also used in Mono-Blue Control (Urza’s block era), as a backup ramp engine to cast \u003cem\u003eMorphling\u003c\/em\u003e or \u003cem\u003eTime Spiral\u003c\/em\u003e. Today, \u003cem\u003eLotus Blossom\u003c\/em\u003e occasionally appears in artifact-based Commander (EDH) decks – especially the ones that rely on proliferate effects or time manipulation (e.g. \u003cem\u003eAtraxa, Praetors’ Voice\u003c\/em\u003e or \u003cem\u003eKarn, Silver Golem\u003c\/em\u003e). \u003cem\u003eLotus Blossom\u003c\/em\u003e is not on the Reserved List.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"artwhirled","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44762022314029,"sku":null,"price":0.01,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0721\/8000\/6957\/files\/Lotus_Blossom_Original_Sketch_front_a_white.jpg?v=1775126970","url":"https:\/\/artwhirled.com\/products\/lotus-blossom-graphite","provider":"Art Whirled","version":"1.0","type":"link"}